Beads Of Innocence
by MsKittyCullen
Summary: My entry for the Kids Contest. Childhood can't always be as smooth as you would want it to be. Children aren't as innocent as you think they are. Alice knows all this first hand. One-shot AH/AU.


**The Kid Contest**

**Title Of Entry: Beads Of Innocence  
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**Penname:KittyCullen16**

**Word Count:8982**

**Genre: Friendship/Family**

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Rosalie grasped the plastic tiara and placed it perfectly on the top of her blonde head. Her outfit was complete: she wore a lilac dress which fell down to her toes, four inch heels which were double the size of her actual feet and half a tub of body glitter on her arms and face.

She picked up her wand which was one of her presents on her eighth birthday and turned around to stare at Alice with a self-righteous look on her face.

"As my first act as Princess of the world, I will kill all the evil pixies with The Wand of Magic!" she shouted, and then she jolted her wand straight at Alice who innocently stared at the sequined star at the end of it.

"Al-ice!" she whined, "You're supposed to die now!" She started jumping on the ground impatiently, whilst Alice pouted at her demand.

"Why do I always have to die? I always get the rubbish parts….in '_Pocahontas_' I had to be Kocoum and when we played 'The Little Mermaid' you were always Ariel and I had to be Flounder or the hag! It's not fair!" Alice wailed. She folded her arms in a huff.

"Her names Ursula, stupid!" Rosalie narrowed her eyes at Alice in a frightening way, like a hurricane could be let loose. "And I get those parts 'cause I'm older than you!"

Alice's arms fell to her sides and hung loosely; her shoulders slumped as she exhaled a long irritated sigh.

"I can always play with other girls my own age," Rosalie told Alice sharply.

Suddenly Alice's face saddened. She had always played with Rosalie, on Saturdays, on Sundays, after school, _always_. Alice knew that Rosalie had her own friends in second grade. She was scared of losing her.

"Oh Rose-al-lee, don't…." A frown curled down Alice's face.

"Well play properly then!" Rosalie ordered.

Alice knew that there was no arguing with her friend. This was the side of her Alice didn't like – her bossy side. So she gave up complaining and decided that being friends with Rosalie was better than having nobody to play with.

"Okay, do it again then…" Alice said quietly.

Rosalie reversed to her former power stance and raised her feeble wand in Alice's face.

"Die!" She shouted aggressively, waving the wand to and fro as she said it.

So Alice went along with it. First she grasped her neck and sucked in her breath, and then her tongue flopped out from the side of her mouth. She staggered about Rosalie's room aimlessly, gurgling like an imbecile, whilst Rosalie stood back and watched the amusing sight.

After Alice had landed on the floor and was silent for a few seconds, Rosalie started gently tapping the tip of her wand on her lips, staring off into space.

"Rose, can I get up yet?" Alice's voice was muffled by her hair. Rosalie let out a long groan.

"I'm bored!" she complained. This was Alice's queue to get up, patting herself down as she did so.

Suddenly their attention got caught up by the sounds of shouting and fake gun noises. Rosalie strode across her room and ripped her curtains open; it was Alice's twin brother Edward with his friends who also lived on the street: Jasper and Emmett.

Rosalie's sapphire eyes widened as she saw them all and a wide grin showed up on her face. She kicked her mom's heels off and they scattered across the room. Alice peeped her round, brown eyes above the window's ledge to see what had caught Rosalie's attention. She couldn't understand why Rosalie seemed so happy, it was only her brother and her cousin, Emmett, but then something caught her eye.

There was boy hiding behind a car, laughing along with the rest of them. Alice didn't see him at first but she couldn't help but smile: it was Jasper. He was in the same class as her, and she thought he was the nicest guy in the class. He wasn't like the rest. She hated the rest.

She could hear Rosalie whisper in the background. Alice turned around to see what she was doing. She was tying her shoelaces. It was something Alice still hadn't grasped, and Rosalie never stopped teasing her about it.

"Cross over…..dive under…" Rosalie whispered to herself as all focus was on her laces and Alice just watched attentively.

When Rosalie had finished she looked up to see Alice's face, who had just watched her do the process, so Rosalie gave her a wicked smile and Alice's eyes lowered to the ground. Rosalie launched herself up and ran to the top of the stairs; Alice was still in Rosalie's room.

Rosalie sighed, "C'mon Alice," and soon, Alice sauntered behind her until they reached the sidewalk on the street.

As soon as the boys realized the girls were there, they instantly stopped what they were doing.

"Hello, _boyfriend!_" Rosalie chirped at Emmet, who flinched at the word.

Alice looked at her twin brother, Edward, who was burning his eyes into her.

"Alice…just go away," Edward said.

"I'm not doing anything!"

"Can we play with you?" Rosalie asked, ignoring the exchange between the siblings.

"Ew, no way. No girls can play, this is a _boy_ game!" Emmett sharply replied.

"You said I was your girlfriend last week!" Rosalie pointed her finger at him accusingly. She hated being denied of _anything,_ and when anyone did she would usually throw a tantrum. Emmett was _supposed_ to be her boyfriend, he was _supposed_ to be nice to her, and maybe, she hoped, he would hold her hand.

"No, I didn't!" Emmett said, and he started to move from one foot to another.

"Yes, you did." Rosalie's voice flew up a couple of octaves, frustrated that he lied.

"Emmett's got girl germs," Edward joked.

"Girl's don't have germs!" Alice practically screeched.

"We just wanna join in," Rosalie said, softer this time.

"They can join in if they want to…" Jasper said quietly. Everyone looked at him, as Jasper usually kept quiet in these types of situations. He started to feel uncomfortable by all the staring eyes, and unconsciously tugged the ends of his sleeves.

"Yeah, come on, let us join in!" Alice found the words automatically fall out of her mouth, and the attention moved onto her.

Emmett grunted at the thought and then turned his back on Rosalie and Alice, looking at Edward and Jasper. He raised his hand and gestured them to come closer and they all obliged, huddling together and they talked in a low key so the girls could barely hear them.

After a few minutes the boys turned around to give them their awaited verdict.

"You can play with us…" Emmet said reluctantly, and Rosalie squeaked, "But, we're not playing anything girly!"

Rosalie was clearly happy at the fact they could join and started to bounce on the balls of her feet with glee.

"I know a game that we could play," Edward said with a smile curled around his mouth.

The two girls got told to hide somewhere, as the boys were pretending to be hunters and they had to find their prey. Alice couldn't understand why they didn't just say they were playing hide and seek.

So Alice eagerly skipped down the road where the woodland started. She scrambled her way up a muddy hill where she tripped up and got dirt smeared on her kneecaps. But she didn't care, all she cared about was that Jasper was playing a game with _her_, and that meant that they could be friends at school. Maybe _best_ friends.

She was also thankful for not being bossed around by Rosalie and having to dress up as a man to play the part of John Smith or Cinderella's evil step-mother. She found a bush she could hide behind; brimming with excitement because she was sure that would be the best hiding place. Nobody could ever find her there.

She pulled her long t-shirt over her kneecaps as she jittered about energetically. The t-shirt had been given to her as a gift from her uncle. It was her favorite item of clothing. It had 'Australia' boldly written across it and a picture of a Koala bear. It was her dream to explore the world. After her uncle told her about Australia and how it was a beautiful country with lots of wildlife, like kangaroos, and kangaroos were her _favorite_ animal, she desperately wanted to go, but her parents kept on saying 'we don't have the money' or 'maybe when you're older'.

She couldn't wait until she was old enough and she could leave Forks…forever.

Alice was starting to get bored. She tightened her pigtails in her hair. It felt messy at the back but she didn't care. She grabbed a twig and started to break bits off and spelt her name and when she had done that she pressed each twig really hard into the ground, like she had made her mark.

When she looked up to the sky, the clouds were growing murkier and it looked like it was going to pour with rain. It felt like ages since she'd hidden behind the bush, so she couldn't understand why nobody had shouted her name. She wasn't that far away from where she left them.

Then the downfall begun, starting as a gentle pitter-patter against the leaves on the trees, and then the sounds started to grow harsher, and then the rain bulleted straight against the trees and landed on the ground.

This was when the realization started to kick into her brain. Was anyone really bothered that she was hiding? Surely they would have found her by now.

She ought to have known better. Things like this happened at school - she knew it was too good to be true. Making friends wasn't her forté.

It wasn't long until the tears started to cascade down her cheeks along with the rain. Her favorite t-shirt was drenched, her hair was soaking and she was so cold that rough goosebumps were appearing on her arms. She wanted to go home, but having to go home to her twin brother wasn't an easy thing to do. Edward would be making fun of her for weeks, just like the time when he'd slipped a tomato down her pants when they were five, and when she sat down, everyone heard the squelching noise and they all started to roar with laughter.

It happened two years ago and he still talked about it.

"Alice?" She heard a boy's voice day. She looked to see who it was through the thick rain.

She immediately saw the familiar honey blonde hair.

"Have you finally found me?" She called out. For some reason, her heart started beating a tiny bit faster. Maybe they really couldn't find her because she picked a really good hiding place.

He started walking towards her. Sympathy was written across his face and guilt was swirling around in his eyes.

"We went home age ago," he quietly said.

"Oh." It was the only thing she could say. She knew she'd been right. Why would anybody else want to play with her?

She hung her head because she didn't want him to see the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he eventually said. "We thought you went home ages ago, too."

"Well, I didn't," she whimpered.

He reached his hand out towards her, and she looked up to see his face carrying a small smile, which was only slightly comforting. She decided to take his hand. She just wanted to go home and forget about the whole ordeal.

"Your mom made us go and look for you. Your brother's in a lot of trouble," he said with a lighter tone.

Alice tried her best to return a smile, but when she did it hurt her insides where she was aching from multiple emotions: disappointment, confusion and sadness.

"Your mom was really mad that Edward made that game up." He paused. "I'm sorry; I thought it was a game, too. We only found out that Edward made it up when you and Rosalie left."

She knew it would have something to do with Edward. It had Edward written all over. He just loved to prank people, to play silly games. He was the worst brother ever.

"What happened to Rosalie?" She quietly asked.

"She gave up after five minutes and went home."

She simply nodded her head to this. Rosalie was meant to be her friend; shouldn't she have come to look for her?

The rest of the brief walk home with Jasper was in silence, since there was nothing left to say. She couldn't say anything or she would break out in relentless tears, and she didn't want a red puffy face before entering her house.

Jasper and Alice said their goodbyes and then she slugged her way indoors. Her mom ran straight for the door looking frantic. She looked even worse when she looked frantic.

Her mom had changed, that was for definite. Her skin had changed a different color which made her look drained and worn out, no matter how much she smiled. Alice remembered when her mom was always bright and cheery, but now she was always exhausted and running to the bathroom being sick in the night. Her dad had to do the school run in the mornings. She remembered the first morning when he did it and Edward had asked why their mommy wasn't taking them that morning. Her dad just said 'Mommy's not feeling too good this morning' and then he told them not to ask her about it.

Alice knew her mom would get better, because everyone got ill from time to time. Her mom never got ill, so her mom must have to be sick for longer to make up for it.

"Oh baby, you're soaking wet!" Alice's mom cried out. She extended her long arms and wrapped them around Alice, but Alice was just limp and lifeless.

Her mom was wearing a long navy fleece and black flannel trousers; it was what she usually wore these days as she never got out of the house that much. She finished this off with one of her new favorite accessories: a head scarf.

"Go upstairs and take a bath. I'll make you some food."

Alice slumped upstairs into the bathroom, shivering from the cold. She pulled her sopping pigtails out and took her damp clothes off and dipped into the bath, feeling rejected. She should have known better.

When she returned back downstairs, her mom had a plateful of cous-cous and salad. Her mom had gotten into cooking healthy meals for the family now; they had cut out most animal fats and only ate meat once or twice a week. Her mom's excuse to them was that if they became vegetarians all together they could help stop global warming. Edward and Alice didn't even know what global warming was, and neither of them questioned their mother. Edward didn't because although he hated not knowing things - he was a clever boy, top in his class – he didn't like looking stupid in any way. Alice didn't care if she didn't know what global warming was – it didn't interest her one bit.

Another excuse her mom used was, 'your health is the best thing you'll ever have'.

***

Alice got up bright and early for school. She didn't mind getting up early but her brother was a different matter. She got changed in the outfit her mother had left for her on her chair: a white long-sleeved top with denim dungarees over. Her mom tied her hair in the two small pigtails that she always wore.

When Alice and her brother were ready, her dad took them in the car to school. Edward still hadn't apologized to Alice about what happened, so she sat in silence, biting her tongue. She decided she'd just ignore him.

Whenever she thought about sitting behind that bush in the rain, her heart ached and she would automatically sigh. She was fed up with being messed around, she was fed up that she didn't have any friends. Having no friends was humiliating, especially at breaks and dinnertimes when she'd have to sit by herself.

When she arrived at school everything still seemed the same. There were the finger-print pictures on the wall and hand written short stories. It still had the same old energetic smell and the people who went there was just the same. She saw Jasper sitting on one of the table, so Alice brought her hand up and waved at him. He started to kick his legs frantically under the table and returned a small smile.

She would have sat with him but the table was full up. So Alice slouched onto a table across the room, sighing wistfully.

Mrs. Crowley was already in the room, of course, and talking to a few students about how their weekend was. That was when Alice tried to block out what they were saying. Envy and failure usually tightened her throat hearing how people stayed at each others houses or how a group of friends in her class had a day trip to a theme park. She just buried her head in her hands.

When she looked up she saw the two girls she detested the most. They chorused the malevolent giggles, they made the cruel comments and they sneered at you in a way which made you feel miniscule. Most of their attention seemed happily directed at Alice.

The adults always told you to ignore the bullies, so that was what she did.

Lauren and Jessica was always linked arm in arm wherever they went. They always wore bright floral dresses and had their hair in 'good girl' curls. Both of their mothers were sisters, and they thought it would be cute if they dressed them that way. Alice didn't think it was cute – more frightening than anything, like a story from 'Goosebumps'.

As the pair walked past her she could hear Jessica whisper something into Lauren's ear, followed by vile sniggers which instantly made Alice tense up. Fury built up inside of her, so she brought up her wrists and shied her face behind them and started to chew on the end of her sleeve, feeling distressed.

It wasn't long until the lesson started and the excitement across the classroom ceased. The quiet made Alice more comfortable, she could handle it – just like she could handle the dark, unlike most of the girls her age. The girls her age shrieked whenever lightening struck over Forks, but Alice remained calm. She admired the electrifying bolts across the sky and she would grin to herself. She thought lightening was just misunderstood. It was exciting, not scary.

When break came around, she went outside with the rest of her class. There was fine rain over Forks, so she cooped underneath the slide. She watched around the playground, wide eyed, wishing she could join in some of the games people were playing. She looked over at Jasper who was playing a pretend game with Edward and Emmett and some other boys. She wanted to get up and talk to him; he'd listen to her because Jasper was different. He'd probably let her join in.

But she wasn't going to because Edward was there.

Then, suddenly, she felt a sharp yank on one of her pigtails. She stepped out of her dream world and couldn't help but snap her head back to look at the person who interrupted.

Lauren and Jessica was staring back, sneering at her. Every limb that Alice owned froze up and she quickly dropped her eyesight to her knees.

Alice had been like that ever since they had gym class and Alice went back to get changed out of her gym clothes. She'd caught Lauren and Jessica gleefully dropping her t-shirt and trousers outside in the pouring rain. She'd tried not to cry, but it was hard, having to wear cold, dirty, wet clothes for the remainder of the day.

She looked up to see Jessica with a ball tightly in her hands.

In a flash, she threw the ball and it smacked her, right on her shoulder; it left a stinging aftermath. A whirlwind of emotion crashed down, but she kept her head lowered because she didn't want them both to see her face.

"What a freak!" Lauren screeched. She could feel her voice close to her face and Alice's bottom lip started to tremble.

They broke out in laughter again. She kept on thinking to herself over and over, _just don't look at them, ignore them. _

They soon got bored and walked off. She finally exhaled. This happened everyday.

***

Her dad dropped her back off at home. Edward still wasn't talking to her. Alice would have liked an apology, but that didn't look like it was going to occur – this was Edward: he would never come off from his high horse. The thought made her so angry.

Today hadn't been a great day – but school never was that great.

Alice's mom knew that she didn't have a great school life, but she didn't like to question her days as Alice always got quiet and uncomfortable speaking about it. So when Alice came through the front door her mom rushed to give her a gigantic hug and pulled her to a chair to sit on her lap.

"Edward still not talking?" She asked. Alice was snuggled in the crook of her mom's neck. She gently shook her head.

Her mom exhaled. "When will that boy stop being so grumpy?" She laughed lightly in Alice's ear, who just shrugged in return.

"Are you going to see Rosalie today?" Her mom asked.

"Maybe," Alice responded. That was the first word she had said in hours.

"Well maybe you would like to play with the present I got you."

Alice looked up to see her mom with a wide grin plastered on her face.

Alice hopped off whilst her mom went to fetch her present. This had certainly pulled her day up from the depths of the low points. Alice fidgeted eagerly while she was waiting, thinking about what it could be. As the minutes went on she was getting more and more excited.

When her mom entered the room again, she had the present behind her back and her face was riddled with anticipation to see if Alice would like the present.

She quickly held it out in front of Alice. Alice tilted her head to the side, confused. She didn't know what it was and her mom soon detected her reaction.

"It's a boomerang," she started off, to see if any recognition sparked on Alice's face – no such luck. "It's very Australian."

That was all her mom had to say to make Alice suddenly jump up and down erratically on her feet. Anything Australian made Alice excited.

"Come on, I'll show you how to use it," her mom said, brimming with happiness at how her daughter liked her present.

All that afternoon Alice and her mom played in the backyard with her new boomerang. It seemed that all of the bad memories of the day washed away as she nearly started to tear from laughing with her mom.

Those were the best of times.

The next morning it was the same old routine. Get ready, breakfast, wash face, brush teeth and then she was out of the door and into the car, preparing for another forlorn day.

As she got to the classroom she kept her eyes stuck to the ground and held her breath until she got to a free table which was in the corner. She waited there in silence, waiting to hear Mrs. Crowley's voice.

"Good morning class!" her voice enthusiastically rung out.

Alice raised her head to look at Mrs. Crowley so she could try and focus on today's lesson. Her eyes widened with curiosity to see a girl standing timidly next to Mrs. Crowley.

The girl didn't look directly at the class; she kept her eyes stamped on the floor. She seemed shy. She wore a light denim dress with an oversized cardigan, and on her feet she had two long white socks, although her right sock had rolled down whilst her left sock was still pulled up. Alice could hear the evil twosome sniggering at the sight. She looked up to see the girl's face, her cheeks were burning furiously. The girl swung her long brown hair across her face to try and cover up her embarrassment.

Alice couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards her; she knew exactly how it felt to be alone and judged.

"Class, I would like to introduce you to our newest member – Bella Swan. She's come all the way from Phoenix, Arizona, so everyone be nice!" She sweetly told the class. The class replied 'yes, Mrs Crowley'.

Bella continued to duck her head and made her way to the nearest free seat she could find. Alice looked around the classroom and everybody's eyes were still locked on her. She was the new girl and everyone seemed to be fascinated with her.

She turned around and Mrs. Crowley started by giving out math sheets around the room. The lesson had begun and the rest of the students started to dig into the sheet, but from time to time they raised their head to have another look at Bella.

Bella just quietly started doing her work, not daring to look around at the class.

When break arrived, Alice was curious to see where Bella would go. Although when that bell rung out for the dreaded twenty minutes of break Alice would have to endure alone, nobody seemed to remember that they had a new student. So everybody went about in their social groups and started to play.

Alice leant on a wall and looked up at Bella who had sat down on a bench by herself. She seemed to be in her own world. She held a box tightly to her chest and then carefully rested it down next to her and opened it.

She took out some long black string and started to slide different colored beads down it.

Alice began nibbling at the ends of her nails. Should she go up and talk to her? Maybe she could make a friend? Or should she just leave it? Alice didn't know what to do.

She suddenly heard a door slam and her attention averted to the other side of the playground where she saw Lauren and Jessica smugly linked arms together looking like they were up to no good.

The pair looked up to Alice and scowled at her at the same time – Alice didn't know how they did that! Whenever they did, it certainly chilled her to the bone.

She expected them to come and say something to her. It was what they seemed to like doing, as if they wanted to provoke her, waiting for a backlash that would satisfy them.

But unpredictably, they kept on walking in front of her, not giving Alice a tormenting comment. A rush of relief washed through Alice's face. Maybe they'd finally decided that they had better things to do. She could only hope, anyway.

And then the sickness came as she watched the two wander off towards the bench Bella occupied. Alice felt a lump hitch in her throat. She didn't want to see what would happen. Bella was new, she didn't deserve this.

"Look who it is; the new girl," Jessica pointed out to Lauren. Lauren giggled in her usual malicious tone. Alice wasn't amused – she was too busy being worried.

Bella's eyes looked up; Alice didn't seem to be the only one who was worried.

"Ugh – you're right Jess, she _is_ ugly!" Lauren practically screamed in her high pitched voice, and then they collapsed in laughter, _again._

Bella and Alice obviously had the same rules when it came to bullies. So Bella just looked back down at the box and picked up a shimmering baby blue bead and she continued to do what she was doing before.

Lauren and Jessica did not like this.

"I used to do them when I was like, six!" Jessica screeched.

"Yeah, loser!" Lauren laughed, and with this taunt she grasped the necklace Bella was building and chucked it out of her hands and onto the floor, causing all the beads to be let loose from the lace and roam off crazily in their own directions.

The howl of laughter proceeded as the pair walked off feeling pretty happy with themselves. I watched Bella's expression; her face looked like it was going to crumple into tears at what she had just witnessed, but she gave herself a minute to retain herself.

Her shoulders slumped and she began the chore of picking up each individual bead.

Alice took a step forward and then hesitated. She didn't know whether she should just go and help her….or maybe she just didn't need her help.

First she watched Bella pick up a bead, and then Alice noticed that her legs were shaking. Alice knew exactly what kind of situation she was in. She couldn't just stand there and watch her pick up each bead by herself. It must have been embarrassing.

So Alice steadily walked up to her, and started helping her pick up her beads. When she'd picked up the last few she turned to Bella, whose eyes seemed alarmed.

She turned on her best smile, because her mom said that first impressions counted, and if you were smiling (in a sweet way) then that made the other person think that you were friendly, and therefore they were more likely to be your friend.

"Here you go," Alice said quietly and placed them in her hands. A small smile crept up on Bella's face – Alice hoped that was a good sign.

"…thank you," she said, _very_ quietly.

"Don't worry," Alice answered, "that's Lauren and Jessica……_evil witches." _She said the last part quietly.

Bella looked up appreciatively, and then the awkward silence dawned on them.

Alice thought back to what her mom had told her. Saying something funny usually broke the ice. She rooted around her head for a joke. She knew she _wasn't_ going to do the classic 'how did the chicken cross the road' joke, because if Alice was being honest to herself…..she didn't understand why it was meant to be funny.

"A mushroom walks into a bar. The bartender says, 'We don't serve your kind here!'  
The mushroom replies, 'why not? I'm a fungi!'"

Bella sat there for a second, and Alice smiled hopefully, praying it would work.

A sweet laugh escaped Bella's lips. Alice was pleased that it had worked and at least she was smiling. She'd seemed like a nervous wreck all day.

"I'm Alice, by the way," she decided to tell her.

"Bella."

Alice laughed.

"I know," she said, smiling. "So, what's this you're making?"

"I like making necklaces," Bella answered shyly.

"Cool."

Alice stared at the thousands of beads she had kept secured in the little tin box.

"You can help me…..but only if you want to." Bella added the last bit on quickly.

"Sure!" Alice was ecstatic at the thought and overwhelmed with happiness. They started to recreate the necklace. They barely spoke, but it wasn't awkward. It was a comfortable silence. Alice couldn't believe what she was doing, it all felt so surreal.

***

Necklace-making started to become a regular occurrence and for the first time in Alice's life she felt like she had a true friend. Bella never turned around and said that she would dump her for somebody else, Bella never made her do something she didn't want to do.

Bella was very shy at the start, and she still was. But Alice began to notice that she kept on saying more things as the time went on. When her brother passed the two together, he looked confused. You could obviously see the thought displayed on his face: 'Alice…has a friend?' When he looked at her like that, Alice simply blobbed her tongue out at him, which made Bella giggle every time, but made Edward grumpy with her for the rest of the day.

Alice had told her mom all about Bella. She was surprised at first, but then delighted Alice reallywas happy. She was happy to go to school, and even though Lauren and Jessica still said some mean things to them both, it wasn't all bad. They usually just shrugged it off when they left.

The two both stuck to their rule - just ignore them - and because they weren't alone anymore and they never listened to Lauren and Jessica, the terrible twosome started to give up on the harsh comments. Some days they didn't even bother, and those were the really_, really _good days.

A few weeks after Bella and Alice had become friends, Alice asked her mom if Bella could come over to play and have dinner. Alice remembered how her mom looked slightly unsure at the time.

She had started to become really ill and didn't leave the bed or sofa often unless her dad took her out, but on those occasions Alice and Edward had to be dropped off at their grandparents.

Her dad intervened at the question. "Maybe this isn't a good time, sweetie."

Alice couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. She'd promised Bella that she could come over and that they could play with the boomerang her mom had bought her.

She looked at her mom and her mom hated her daughter looking like that, especially when she had grown so much happier recently.

"Oh, I don't think Bella will be an inconvenience, she sounds like a really nice girl."

A sprung of hope recuperated inside of Alice.

"Well, only if it's alright with you, dear," her father said.

"Yes, of course it is." Her mom smiled at down at Alice.

Alice's smile stretched across her face.

She had been waiting all week for Bella to come over, and now it was the day. They talked about it - well Alice mainly talked about it – on the bench they sat on everyday.

Alice felt like she'd rocket to the moon when she saw the familiar car pull up outside of the school. Edward was stood a few steps to the side of them, playing with a yo-yo their mom had bought for him. When the car stationed outside of the small group, Alice expected Edward to rush to the door and violently scramble inside. He always made things into a competition.

But instead, he did something which shocked Alice so much she wondered if she was dreaming.

"… You can go first," he shyly told Bella and Alice.

Alice looked over to Edward, and when he caught her eyesight he narrowed his eyes. Then she looked at Bella, and then straight back to him. She swore she saw a little pink flush occur on his pale cheeks.

This made Alice giggle – which Edward didn't like. So when Bella got in first, Edward shoved Alice in right after. This was Alice's turn to glower at Edward.

"…Ass," she whispered to him. She'd overheard the word on a program on television a few months ago and their mom told them not to say it because it was a bad word.

Alice felt like she had to at that moment, simply because the word carried off such an effect on the program. The same effect was needed there.

Edward gasped. "Ohm, Alice, I'm telling mommy."

Alice pouted at this.

"Uh, Edward…." She growled.

"You're such a….fat…elephant!" He said to her, trying to piece up an abusive sentence. She wasn't standing for that.

"You're an old stinky dog!"

Bella was highly amused at the exchange.

And then Edward hit her, so Alice hit him back and the brother and sister started fighting in the back of the car, wrestling with each other, until their dad intervened and told them to stop it or they would be taking Bella home.

Both of the siblings kept it zipped after that.

When they arrived at home, Alice looked around to see if her mom was sitting on the sofa. She wasn't there.

"Where's mom?" Alice asked her dad.

"Uh…she's not feeling too good at the moment…" He said, like his thoughts were preoccupied. "Why don't you and Bella go out and play whilst I make dinner?" His smile was strained, trying to keep up appearances for his daughter.

"Okay…." Alice replied, although for some reason she started to feel a bit worried.

She turned around to Bella. "C'mon, I'll show you the house."

For the rest of the afternoon they played outside with Alice's boomerang, and to Alice's shock Edward came and joined them. Alice wasn't sure about this at first; she thought she should tell him to go away, just like he always did.

But Bella didn't seem to mind. She seemed at ease around him, _and he made her laugh._ In fact, Alice felt like Edward was stealing Bella off of her – which she didn't like. Alice didn't want to be a mood killer, so she tried to maintain her smile. It wasn't as if Edward was ignoring Alice or anything, she just didn't feel as included as she wanted to be.

And then an idea struck like a bolt of lightening. She told them she was just going inside, and as she went through she picked up the empty bucket which was left in the back garden.

When she re-entered the yard, Edward was still talking to Bella so he had his back to Alice. When she was nearing toward the two, Bella caught her eye line but Alice just placed her index finger on her lips and then pointed at the bucket. Bella's attention returned to Edward, but she had a smile on her face which couldn't be repressed.

"….What?" Alice heard Edward say, and then turned around.

She quickly raised the bucket in his direction and Bella ran to the other side of the lawn. Edward was a bit slow to process what was happening but when he saw the bucket, his eyes widened in shock – but it was too late. Alice chucked all the water over him so he was drenched. There wasn't one dry spot. His hair was flat and darker and his t-shirt was shear and his jeans were a deeper blue.

He still stood there stunned. Bella was shrieking out the laughter and Alice couldn't help laughing along with her too.

"…I thought…you could…could… finally have a wash, Edward," Alice breathed, finding it hard to string the sentence from all the laughing.

A menacing look stuck out on his face. Alice half expected him to be furious but instead he shook his head and quickly ran up to the tap outside of the house. Alice and Bella were still in stitches and didn't notice what he was doing. He turned on the hose.

A water fight seemed to have broken out. And Alice and Bella were _not_ prepared. So instead they started screaming whilst he was hosing them down, so they started to run inside of the house, sliding across the floors, and they didn't stop until they reached Alice's room.

"That was so funny," Bella cried out, still laughing.

"…the look on his face!" Alice yelled in hysterics.

***

It wasn't long until the dinner which Alice's dad had made was ready. They were eating spaghetti and pesto with cherry tomatoes, an approved recipe by her mom.

Edward joined after them, still grinning about the incident.

"Did you enjoy the wash, then?" Bella asked, with a mischievous smile.

Alice was a little surprise she spoke out like this, but she supposed Bella was just getting a lot more comfortable.

"I'm not the one who smelt….you two do for sure, though," he said to them whilst he was eating, and the two girls could see the contents in his mouth….it was like a green-y mush.

"Ew, Edward, that's gross!" Alice complained.

"You're gross." Edward responded.

"I know you are, you said you are, so what am I?" Alice said with an annoying smile lingering on her lips.

"You're a…..dung beetle…" Edward told her, laughing again at his own joke.

"I know you are, you said you are, so what am I?" Alice repeated.

Edward tightened his lips and decided to not respond. He knew Alice's persistence and that comeback annoyed him the first time.

"You've gone quiet," Bella noted, biting her bottom lip.

"It's because I'm too good for you…..because I'm wearing red." He looked down proudly at his red top which he had changed into. Alice knew where this would lead to.

So the rest of the time they were at the table they played 'odd one out' which was them basically pointing out things about each other which made them the odd one out. Although the two girls didn't seem to lose so much because they teamed up with each other.

"Edward, you're the odd one out because your shoela--" Alice got cut off by her dad who raced into the room in a frantic state.

"Your grandparents are coming to pick you two up," their father told them, distressed.

"What? Why?" Alice questioned.

That meant that Bella had to go home and she'd thought of so many more things they could have done.

"Alice, I'm afraid I don't have time for your questions, just do what you're told please…..they'll take Bella home." Alice looked over to Bella who seemed a bit disappointed. They were having such a good time.

Just at that moment, the door swung open and their grandparents charged in.

"Steve, just go now!" Her granddad told her dad urgently. Her dad charged out of the room and ran upstairs.

"Now, come on sweetie, we'll take you up to our house now and drop your friend off," Alice's grandma said kindly. She'd always had a way of soothing situations and her hands felt as soft as silk as they stroked Alice's face.

Alice was in a state of confusion – she didn't know what was going on.

"C'mon son," their granddad gestured to Edward. Edward scooted off his chair and made his way out of the kitchen, whilst Bella shyly slipped off her chair and went to go and grab her bag. Alice followed her.

"Sorry, Bella." Alice said, frowning.

"It's okay," Bella told her trying to lighten Alice's mood.

When they all walked out of the door, Alice's eyes got caught by the red and white van which was parked straight out of their house. It was an ambulance. Her heart started to thud. Was it mom?

But she knew her mom was going to get better, so why was the ambulance there?

She grasped onto her grandma's hand, scared of the vehicle. She shut her eyes tightly until her grandma led her to their car. When she opened them she was sat in the middle, with a shy Bella on her right and a fidgety Edward on her left.

It felt like the world was going at a high-speed pace. It was only a few minutes ago when they were crowded around the table laughing at each other. That felt euphoric compared to now.

It wasn't long until they dropped Bella outside her house; before Bella got out she looked at Alice, her eyes sympathetic. This only made Alice feel worse. Alice felt so uncomfortable; it felt so much deeper than worry.

"Bye," Bella whispered.

Alice just nodded, trying her hardest to smile.

"See ya at school," Edward said. Edward sounded a lot more at ease than Alice did. Maybe he knew that it would be okay, after all, Edward was the clever one. He probably knew that their mom would be back soon.

Alice sunk straight back into her seat, but then she couldn't stop fidgeting. She just couldn't be comfortable. She just wanted answers.

"Gran….where's mom?" Alice asked eagerly.

There was an uneasy pause between her grandparents.

"She's just gone to hospital."

"Why?" Alice wondered.

"Why do you think people go to hospital, dork!" Edward snapped at her.

Her head jolted back, surprised at his outburst. He seemed fine a few minutes ago; his behavior hurt a lot more than it usually did.

"I was just wondering why Edward!" She shouted back at him.

"Hey, kids, just calm down back there," their granddad said. Alice pinched her lips together and did the most deathly scowl she could pull off, right in Edward's direction. His eyes flickered back to his side window.

They had to stay the night. The next day her grandparents thought it was best that they didn't go to school that day; they told them it would just be a hassle going back to the house to get all their stuff which they needed for school. Edward didn't mind not going to school, in fact he cheered when they told him.

Alice on the other hand had a feeling something was wrong and kept on incessantly asking them questions which they quickly tried to divert.

Later on that evening her grandma declared that they were going to see their mother in hospital. Alice was so excited that she was going to see her mommy. She had worked on a get well card that day; she drew a picture of her mom with a big smile on her face with lots of pink hearts on the side. She also made her mom a green and purple paper maché flower. She was quite proud of her work. Her grandma said it was very thoughtful.

Whilst they were in the car on their way to the hospital, Alice was very quiet. In fact, everyone was quiet. She leant her head on the car window and watched the houses and evergreen trees fly past. She didn't even care about the vibrating sensation the window made against her forehead. She just wanted to see her mommy. She clutched the card and the flower tightly to her chest, not wanting to drop them.

Maybe her mom would come back soon and she would be all better. And then she could meet Bella.

She first noticed the funny smell when they entered the hospital. It was like a mixture of disinfectant and old people, and the walls were pale colors which made her feel cold. People were sitting down on waiting chairs drinking coffees or crying. She immediately felt ill at ease. She didn't like the sights, but she continued to walk.

Then they came to a private room and Alice's heart started racing. She didn't know what to expect, but what she wanted was her mom to be sitting there dressed and ready to go.

Her granddad was the first the open the door. Then her grandma gently pushed Edward and Alice in. Alice held her breath.

She noticed the lack of furniture in the room - there were just cheap stools on the sides. And then her eyes traced up towards the bed. The excitement drained out of her.

Her mommy had different wires plunged into her which led from small bags. She could hear a beeping sound in the background; she looked at the machine where the sound came from, it had numbers which kept changing and a little heart symbol was at the side of them.

_Beep, beep, beep._

Her mommy's eyes wavered across her. She looked weak. Her skin was the palest she had seen it and her eyes looked dark. She wasn't wearing any of her head scarves which she usually did. It was the first time Alice saw her without one. She bit her lower lip; she didn't know what to say. She felt scared.

_Beep, beep, beep._

Her dad was beside her, he didn't look the same either, tired, anxious, and really all of Alice's feelings were displayed on his face. He had his hand tightly locked with his wife's, as if he would lose her if she let go.

_Beep, beep, beep._

She looked at her brother. He stared back at her. It was like they were talking to each other through their eyes. They didn't know it was like this, they didn't know the degree of her illness.

_Beep, beep, beep._

Alice pulled together some courage and walked over to her mom. She placed her card on her table side at an angle so she could clearly see it, and she carefully placed the flower she made on top of her. Before she took a step back, she gave her mom a quick peck on the cheek.

_Beep, beep, beep._

She stood next to Edward. Her mom didn't say anything but did her best to give the biggest smile she could and then mouthed 'love you'.

Silence overwhelmed the room, she was waiting for somebody to say something – _but there wasn't anything right to say._ What could they say? Should they talk about that program on the T.V last night? Should their grandma talk about what meal she was planning to make on Sunday? The normal topics just didn't seem normal anymore - they seemed inappropriate.

Edward neared Alice. He reached out his hand towards her and Alice looked up to him. He didn't know whether to hug her, put his arm around her like a good brother should do. When all these thoughts busied in his head he decided to grab his hand back, and Alice watched it retreat. They both knew then that they had to put away their childish behavior towards each other; after all they were brother and sister. So Alice leant on her brother and she could feel him take a deep breath before they brought their full attention back to their mommy in the hospital bed.

_Beep, beep, __**beep. **_

***** **

Her mom died a week later.

Her father told her and her brother that her mom wouldn't want them to be too sad – but they could cry if they wanted too. He particularly said that to Edward. Edward didn't cry when he found out, he just walked out of the room – angry.

Being in the house felt like walking on eggshells. Their grandparents were over a lot and Alice would spend a lot of time with her grandma. They missed school for a couple of weeks, but school was the last thing on their minds.

It couldn't sink in. Alice cried a lot at the start, and where her heart was she had an aching feeling. She knew it would never go away, and she couldn't stop think about her mommy.

She missed her warm cuddles and bed time stories. She never knew she would miss her this much. A month ago she wanted to leave Forks and be an explorer and go to Australia. Now, she couldn't understand why she would have wanted to leave her mom.

Alice was dreading school. She didn't want to see Lauren and Jessica; she wouldn't be able to take their snide remarks. She would give into them.

Although, to her shock, when she first arrived people actually looked at her. They didn't seem like they were looking at her and thinking she was a freak. It was weird because most people ignored her. But they looked at her, more sympathetic, and then a few people went up to her and asked if she was alright or just tried to make conversation. She didn't know what to say, but she gave them a few nods.

When break arrived she walked outside like usual and went to the bench. The numbness occurred all over when she saw Bella. The last time she saw her was _that_ night.

"Hey," she greeted her.

"….Hi."

Then the next thing Bella did caught Alice off guard. It was something she would have never expected her to do. Bella leaned in and wrapped her arms around Alice tightly.

Alice hadn't appreciated a hug more in her life. She exhaled a long shaky sigh, like the ones you do post-crying.

"I've made you something…." Bella said quietly, "I thought you might, like it…"

She rummaged her hand in her pocket and when her hand reappeared she brought out one of her string bracelets. When Alice looked it over she noticed it had her two favorite colors, pink and purple, and in the middle it had a glittery heart.

A small smile crept on her face, it was all she was able to do, but inside she was glowing.

Bella handed it over to Alice who was still staring. She tried to put it on but she was having problems clipping it together around her wrist. Then Bella swooped in to help her.

"I find them hard to put on by myself," Bella smiled at her.

"Thank you," Alice whispered. She looked up to Bella who was shyly smiling.

For the rest of the break they just sat next to each other, but of course, it wasn't awkward, it wasn't uncomfortable, it was entirely opposite.

As she stroked the beads, she felt different, she felt a bit better – but not entirely. Alice would always miss her mom. But now, she had a friend who still wanted to know her and she had a feeling she would always be there. Alice knew she shouldn't make assumptions but she wanted to believe that Bella would be her best friend forever.

At that moment she knew things wouldn't always be that bad, that eventually the clouds would clear – well, not over Forks, that would be impossible - and normality would settle into something else, because as sentimental as it sounded, Bella and Alice's family were now the most important thing to her. Even more important than Australia.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading, this is my first contest I'm entering, I hope you will support me on November the 28th when the first round opens!**

**Also thank you to my beta, Ohgeekyone, who worked really hard given the time I gave her to beta this! Thank you.**

**And one last message : Romance isn't the end all and be all!  
**


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